Beneath the Surface
by hardly loquacious
Summary: Jane and Lisbon’s relationship seemed fine on the surface, but, as always, it was what was going on under the surface that mattered most. Post-finale fic.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: So I thought the finale was unbelievably and completely _awesome_. But in a way, despite not being at all a cliff-hanger it made me ask more questions than it answered. The only thing I can definitely say is that it was not as dark as I was expecting it to be. And depending on how they meant certain things it could be almost uplifting or really depressing. So despite the fact that I've been wanting to write a post-finale fic, it took me a while to figure out exactly where I wanted it to fall on that continuum. I think this hits somewhere in the middle. Hope you like it.

Spoiler warning: Watch the finale before you read this fic if you don't know what happened!

It was about a month after Maya Prescott had been reunited with her family, the Serious Crimes Unit was back to business as usual, on the surface at least. Immediately following the case Jane had been… _encouraged_ to take a few days off. There wasn't really any need for a formal investigation, after all about a half a dozen witnesses had seen that he'd shot Hardy to save a colleague's life, but all of the higher-ups at the CBI, Minnelli included, were worried about how it would appear and thought that Jane could probably do with some time off, to process what had happened they said. Even without Hardy's death it had been a tough case for the consultant, Minnelli had told Lisbon softly, when he was relating the outcome of the meeting to her; Jane would be better for a little break. Lisbon had just nodded mutely, glad that Minnelli had informed Jane of his impromptu vacation himself due to the _delicate nature_ of the situation (the official euphemism for what had happened. Lisbon had only just managed not to laugh aloud when she'd first heard it used).

Lisbon wasn't exactly sure what she'd been expecting, but Jane had taken the news quietly. When Minnelli had informed the younger man that the time off was in no way to be taken as a punishment of any kind, but more some much needed time off after the stress of the last case Jane had nodded agreeably, and in that way of his had smiled with his lips, but not his eyes. He'd genially acknowledged that it was probably best for everyone if he d took some personal time, acknowledging how it would _look_ if he refused. Casually grabbing his coat off his couch he gave the rest of the team a smile and a quick goodbye. "I'll send you guys a postcard! Course I'll probably be back before it gets here."

When he passed her office doorway he paused, and she swore his smile had become almost mocking, "See you next week _boss_."

She could only stare at him, not sure exactly what it was she wanted to say, "Bye Jane. See you next Monday."

Whatever he saw in her eyes seemed to almost amuse him. With a small smile he turned and left. She couldn't be sure if he'd heard what she'd said next; she wasn't sure she'd wanted him to. "I'm sorry."

That had been almost a month ago. A week after that Jane had returned. She'd expected it to be awkward, for him to be resentful, had been dreading it in fact if she was honest with herself. But no, Jane had been his normal self. Generally. He'd come bounding in practically whistling, greeting the team almost exuberantly. His "Morning Lisbon" might have been a bit subdued, a bit shorter than the salutations he threw to everyone else, but no one else seemed to notice anything amiss so she'd chalked it up to her own paranoia. She'd expected him to treat her differently so now she was seeing things where nothing actually existed. Great, she thought, just what she needed, a mental disorder on top of everything else, as if she needed something else to worry about. With her luck Jane probably decided to take up skydiving or racecar driving during his time off. She couldn't help scowling in the consultant's general direction, deciding this was all his fault.

When he'd found out that nothing much was going on Jane had moved to his couch and appeared to go to sleep. But she was sure he knew she was watching him, he always did somehow. So when he opened his eyes, and raised his eyebrows at her she wasn't surprised. "Nice to have you back Jane."

He nodded, acknowledging her comment, but didn't say anything, scrutinizing her facial expression in silence. Unwilling to submit to his examination she tore her gaze from his and left the room soon afterwards.

A couple of weeks after that Minnelli asked her how things were going with Jane; it had become a bit of a custom of theirs at the end of their meetings checking in with each other about how Jane's antics were being dealt with since something always seemed to be going on with the unpredictable consultant. She'd assured him that Jane was fine, that she had everything under control.

"So no long term effects of the case a few weeks ago?" Minnelli asked her, entirely too casually to actually be a casual question.

"Nope, not that I can see. I mean, it's _Jane_, every so often he'll do something insane…"

"You mean like drop a water balloon on a prominent businessman from a second story window?"

"… but it hasn't been anything I can't handle."

She remembered at the time thinking that it was technically true. Nothing between them had changed, not really. Nothing that she could specifically pinpoint at least. Sure, sometimes she thought there might be a subtle barrier between them now that hadn't been there before, but it was so hazy it was hard to get a fix on it. Sometimes she thought Jane was more polite toward her than he'd ever been before. And she'd wondered a couple of times if he'd ended some of his more outlandish stories or even some of his little tricks rather when she entered the bullpen. Not to mention they didn't seem to be as in sync lately. Gone were wordless conversations, the easy teasing, the occasional gestures of support. Sure they discussed cases, that hadn't changed, and he still needled at her a bit, but it wasn't the same. It was either too impersonal, like it was a chore for him, or it wasn't quite as innocent as it had been. He almost seemed to revel just a little bit in her discomfort. But really, all of her evidence was so circumstantial that she almost couldn't make a case even to herself. Jane was probably just dealing with stuff. He most likely wasn't _intentionally_ sabotaging their relationship.

She almost believed that too, except for one little thing, he hadn't brought up the subtle shift between them. If _she'd_ noticed a difference than it was almost certain that the human tape measure of interpersonal relationshipshad. Yet Jane hadn't mentioned anything, hadn't burst into her office at random one day with wild accusations and a ludicrous solution that wouldn't work, but would make her laugh, so would most likely help anyways. That meant that either Jane _hadn't_ noticed, in which case their relationship had changed to the point where he didn't care what was going on, whether or not it was damaged, or Jane _had _noticed, and was doing nothing about it. Whichever scenario was right, their relationship had cracked, and instead of repairing it, they were both pretending it wasn't there, merely painting over the damage so that unless you looked closely you'd never see it.

Which brought her back to the present day sitting in her office, idly signing off on a few unimportant reports, but really wondering what to do about her wayward consultant. Wondering if they could back to where they had been before, or if it was even a good idea. Getting lost in her own memories.

"_Dammnit Lisbon you were supposed to wait until Red John showed up."  
"I couldn't take the chance. Red John's long gone anyway."_

He'd been angry, and she supposed he'd had every right to be. _She _was the one who'd broken their agreement, who'd ignored the plan, a plan he'd come up with to fulfill his life's goal. But what Jane didn't understand, couldn't ever seem to understand, was that she couldn't only consider the needs of a single person. She was the head of a team for crying out loud. She had to consider everyone, consider all of their safety, from the victim to Jane himself, whether he cared about his own life or not.

"_You shoulda waited. We agreed on that."  
"And what if Hardy had killed you right here?"  
"Then he would have led you straight to Red John."  
"You'd be dead."  
"__**But you'd have Red John**__."_

And he'd meant it. Or thought he had at least. And as long as that was true the distinction didn't matter. He'd come up with a plan knowing that there was a good chance it would result in his own death, uncaring as long as it also resulted in his enemy's capture. And she'd tacitly gone along with it, to save Maya, and to help him catch Red John, foolishly believing that she could prevent anything terrible from happening. It had all happened so fast that there hadn't even been time to call Cho. That alone should have been the tip-off that this was a very bad idea, but she'd let him convince her. Desperate as he was for closure, sometimes she thought that she was almost as desperate to give him some.

But then her nerve had failed her. She couldn't stand idly by and let Jane get killed, especially not when there was a chance that they wouldn't even get Red John. Besides, there was Maya to consider, someone that Jane would almost certainly overlook. If she was honest with herself she didn't think she'd ever intended to see Jane's plan through. It was too dangerous. She'd told him once that she didn't trust him and that he shouldn't trust her. This was why. When it came right down to it their objectives were too different. Besides, she'd thought she could have both. She'd save Maya, and they'd have a witness in custody who actually knew Red John.

"_We've still got Hardy. He's gonna tell us what we need to know."  
"Oh you think so." _

She could hear the scorn in his voice. In her own arrogance she'd thought she'd solved all of their problems. Ironic that it was the same trait that usually got Jane into trouble. She was a fixer, always had been. But as Jane had told her, you couldn't always fix everything. Not that she could have foreseen he actual outcome of her actions in a million years.

Couldn't have foreseen that Hardy would wake up when he did, would be able to remove his own handcuffs and steal his deputy's gun. And then, when he'd pointed that same gun at her she'd been sure that she was next. She'd been sure that she was about to die, knew that she'd never get to her own gun in time. When the shot rang out she waited for the pain that didn't come. Instead she saw Jane, holding a rifle, staring at what he'd done in shock, his panicked eyes darting between Hardy and the rifle that was still in his hands.

Of course Jane's shot had been fatal. Lisbon could only watch in shock as Jane ran to catch the man's final taunting words. Red John couldn't have planned it better if he'd tried really. Jane having to chose between saving her life and shooting his only real link to the psychopath, choosing between getting his revenge and preventing another person from being killed, this time right in front of him.

But of course this time things hadn't just affected Jane. She was involved now as well. She felt guilty, guilty for breaking her agreement with Jane when she hadn't stuck to the original plan, guilty that not only had she prevented Red John's capture, but that their only witness had been effectively silenced. Guilty that she wasn't able to trust him, good reason or no. She couldn't regret her actions, not really. Maya was safe, as were all the members of her team, at least for the time being. And it wasn't as if she'd wanted Jane to let Hardy shoot her just so that he could get his revenge. She certainly wasn't that self-sacrificing and she valued both her own life and justice more than one consultant's all-consuming need for vengeance. God how had she gotten so caught up in Jane's world? How had she let it happen? This was exactly why she always advocating keeping your personal life separate from the office. Because even knowing that she'd done nothing wrong, and that given the chance she didn't know what she could have done differently, she still felt guilty. Guilty that he'd had to do it, guilty that she'd set in motion the chain of events, and guilty that when she'd seen Jane holding the gun she'd been surprised.

She'd told her boss a week ago that she could handle Jane. If only she still believed it.

"_Geez Lisbon, this is on tape! Control your man here!"_

"_I won't let him."_

"_Don't talk like that. I can't let you anywhere near this case if you start talking crazy like that."  
"Crazy? You're crazy if you think you're going to stop me. Red John is mine. You try and stand in my way and you… You will regret it."_

A knock on the door jarred her out of her thoughts. Forcing the voices from the past out of her head she called, "Come in."

It was Cho, who was handing her a file. "Just got a case boss. Here're the details. Rigsby and Van Pelt are getting the gear ready."

"Thanks Cho. I'll be out in a minute."

"Sure thing boss."

She nodded absently as he left the room before flipping through the file. Oh, you've got to be kidding me! She did _not_ need this now.

xxxxx

Jane watched as Cho left Lisbon's office. Presumably the head of the team was just finishing up whatever she'd been busy doing when Cho had handed her the case file. Probably some kind of pointless paperwork. Ah bureaucracy, something he had absolutely no patience for on the best of days. It was, he acknowledged, one of the many reasons that he could never do Lisbon's job. She was bound by too many rules, servant to too many masters. As a result she needed to compromise, and things needed to be sacrificed.

She'd been quieter lately though, since he'd been back, less fun, less sarcastic making fewer jokes. Reacting to him less. Had something gone wrong in her (almost nonexistent) personal life? Or was Special Agent Theresa Lisbon trying to distance herself from her team and her irritating consultant? After all, we wouldn't want to appear unprofessional would we? And with his personality he could definitely become a liability.

He got up from his couch when she emerged from her office. "Alright, ready to head out?" When no one contradicted her statement she'd nodded, "Good. Then let's go."

Jane couldn't help giving a half-hearted salute to her retreating back. She was just as quietly competent as she'd always been, if a bit more subdued than usual. Although he couldn't help noticing that today she seemed just a little bit anxious, a little bit off. Interesting… He wondered why. "And where are we off to this fine morning?"

It was Cho who answered him, "Small town on the other side of the city. Mother of three was found dumped in a back alley early this morning by a local business owner taking out his garbage."

"And we got it why?"

Cho shrugged. "Local law enforcement requested some help. We agreed to step in."

Jane kept an eye on their boss, stalking down the hallway ahead of them. "Do we know where the father was?"

"File doesn't say, other than to say that he seemed pretty broken up."

"And the rest of the family? The kids?"

"At school maybe I guess. Three girls, the oldest is in her early teens, a couple of years into high school."

"Hmm." Jane was only half listening to his companion. His eyes attention was becoming more and more fixed on the woman in front of him as she made small talk with Van Pelt. "Interesting…"

He hung back when they arrived at the crime scene, listening as he let the others talk to local law enforcement. He watched them all while they checked the body for anything important. As far as anyone could tell based on a preliminary inspection she'd been killed by a couple of gunshot wounds to the chest. Anything else had to wait for an autopsy report. But judging by the way the careless way that the body had been dumped, he doubted they were dealing with someone who'd planned the crime in advance, let alone any kind of professional killer. If he had to guess he'd have to go with random attack. Most likely she'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rigsby and Van Pelt seemed to be coming to the same conclusion under their boss's supervision. "They sure didn't make a huge effort to hide the body did they boss?" the younger woman asked.

"Sure didn't." Lisbon replied absently.

"Two shots too," Rigsby added. "Probably not someone who knew what they were doing. This might not have been planned boss."

"No assumptions, not until we know more at least." Standing up from where she'd been crouched near the victim's head she nodded to the medical examiner, "You can take it from here. Rigsby, Cho finish interviewing any witnesses. Van Pelt, get back to headquarters, see what you can dig up about Mrs. Martin here. Jane and I will go talk to the family."

The rest of her team nodded, and moved to follow her orders.

Jane spoke for the first time since they'd arrived on the scene, surprising them all. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Excuse me?" Lisbon sounded surprised.

"I was just wondering if maybe sending Van Pelt or Rigsby to interview the victim's family would be better."

"Why don't you want to go interview the family? Sometimes I think that's your favourite part of a case."

He smiled, keeping his voice indulgent, as if he was speaking to a child, "Not instead of me. Instead of you."

"And why wouldn't I want to go interview the family?" she was trying to keep her voice casual, but he could hear the warning underneath it.

"Aren't you concerned about your ability to be impartial? A mother killed seemingly at random leaving behind a grieving widower with a high school aged daughter and two younger siblings. I know how important the appearance of propriety can be to the CBI after all. We wouldn't want anyone to suspect our investigation might be biased." He kept his voice light. After all, it was a valid concern, and one that came up any time a case involved either Red John or even a missing child. He wasn't sure exactly why he'd done it, it just seemed like something that needed to be said, wanted to see how she felt when her own judgment was called into question. "And I certainly wouldn't want you to be placed in a difficult situation."

To Lisbon's credit she barely even flinched. The rest of the team was watching him in shock. Cho made a move to say something but Lisbon cut him off abruptly. "As I recall this unit isn't in the habit of removing people from an investigation simply because they might have some kind of personal experience with a case. It is assumed that we can remain impartial, or at the very least keep things in perspective enough to do our jobs. That said, if you're concerned of course I don't have to meet with the family. Cho, take Jane with you to the victim's house. I'll stay here with Rigsby instead. And Jane? I appreciate your concern, but in the future if you have questions about my capabilities I'd appreciate it if you spoke to me beforehand." And without further ado she wandered over to speak to the officer who'd first arrived on the scene.

Rigsby and Van Pelt still looked a bit shell shocked, like they wanted to say something, but weren't sure how to react especially given their boss's unruffled demeanour In the end Rigsby turned without saying anything and jogged over to where his boss was standing. Van Pelt crossed in the other direction, getting into one of the sedans, but not before shooting Jane a dirty look. Jane wandered towards the other vehicle knowing Cho would eventually follow. He was right.

"Watch yourself man," was all the Asian agent said as he climbed in the driver's seat. Jane looked at him inquiringly, but unsurprisingly Cho didn't react. Just shook his head and started the car. It was the last thing either of them said for the remainder of the trip.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Okay guys, so I'm becoming a bit concerned that I might have demonized Jane a bit too much, or that I'm making Lisbon too wishy-washy. I'm trying not to, but if Jane moves beyond "bit of jerk trying to get his boss's attention like a three year old" or Lisbon becomes just too ineffectual could you maybe give me a heads up and I'll see what I can do? Appreciate it. I also really appreciate my amazing reviewers. You guys make me happy, because I love this show, and I really love writing fic for it, and the fact that you guys like it too makes the occasional frustration totally worth it and also makes me want to be better, so thank you so very much.

And I realized I forgot a disclaimer before so here it is: I own nothing.

xxxxx

Lisbon was calm. She wasn't angry, she wasn't upset. It was fine. All was well. She certainly wasn't giving the police officer she was currently speaking to any cause for alarm while he told her what he knew ("I got the call early this morning. Tom had found something out behind his grocery store. I drove over and found this. Poor Mary…"). Irritatingly Rigsby kept shooting her concerned looks, but she was pointedly ignoring them, hoping that if she looked unaffected enough that he would decide it was no big deal.

What the hell was wrong with Jane anyways? What had he been thinking? Seriously, he didn't honestly think that she would be so compromised that she couldn't question a victim's family did he? Or did he really not want to be around her that much? _Or_ was he genuinely concerned on some level? Sure his question had been at least a little malicious, but could he have honestly been raising a valid point? Should she be taking cases like this at all? After all, look what happened when Jane was working on a Red John case.

But no, that was ridiculous. Even if some cases affected her more than others she certainly couldn't let that stop her! What was she going to do, remove herself from any case where a young mother died in a tragic accident? Any case involving a single father or a daughter looking after younger siblings? Was Cho going to refuse to work on any military cases because of a bad experience? Would Rigsby steer clear of all cases where women were threatened by men? And as for Jane himself, well, if they took him off all the cases where he _might_ become emotionally involved then his caseload would go down by an order of magnitude!

They were all human. They did the best they could, but they were never truly impartial, no one could be. That was why there were rules, guidelines so there was no appearance of impropriety. Sure, there might be one case out of a hundred that hit too close to home so an agent would decide to step away, but in general all the field agents she knew tended to _use_ their personal experience, either to drive them to help make sure it didn't happen to anyone else, or to help them understand or relate to the victims and their families. They weren't robots; they often relied on a human connection to solve crimes, ironically Jane more so than anyone else she'd ever met.

He was just, oh she didn't know take your pick: desperate for attention, still angry with her, acting out like a child, trying to make her angry, or all of the above. On some level he might not even realize what he was doing, for someone so famously attune to other people Jane had a blind spot the size of San Francisco Bay when it came to his own motivations.

But the question became then, what did she do about it? Was their relationship going to be stuck in this stupid no-man's land where something was clearly wrong, but they both refused to acknowledge it? She certainly couldn't take his little underhanded attacks for much longer, especially if he started using too many of the same techniques he used on troublesome suspects on her. She found them amusing, or at least admitted their effectiveness when they were directed at others and so she'd let him get away with it. Now that he was directing his particular talents at her she didn't quite know what to do about it. Sure she used to be able to rein him in to a point, but now… Maybe all this needed was time. It might shake itself out.

But how much time? She needed to set some sort of time limit; things could not stay like this indefinitely. It'd been about a month since Red John had escaped from that farmhouse, how about another month from today? If things weren't solved by then she'd step in. Now that was going to be a fun conversation. 'Hi Jane! I'm sorry I didn't put your obsessive need for revenge above everything else like you did, but this has to stop. Cut the crap.' That would be _really_ effective. But things had to change if they were going to keep working together. If she'd been less of a coward she'd have been inclined to confront him while she was still angry. Of course that would also let him know just how well his shot had found its mark. And quite frankly, today she didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction, but she wasn't putting up with his crap for longer than a month. If ignoring it had no effect, she'd find something that would.

During her mental debate Lisbon had been sure to keep at least half an ear on the questions Rigsby was asking the local sheriff. "What about the husband?" the younger agent was asking. "Do you know him? Think he could have done this?"

"Jack Martin? No. Absolutely not. He was devoted to Mary, and to those kids. I don't know what he'll do now she's gone. She was his rock. You could check with the neighbours though. She was part of a neighbourhood quilting bee, met once a month. They might know something.

"Thanks." Lisbon said quickly. "We'll let you know when we find anything."

"Appreciate it." The older man shook his head, "Damn shame isn't it? A family torn apart like that."

Luckily Rigsby answered before she could, "It always is. We'll be in touch."

As they walked over to the car she tossed Rigsby the keys. "You drive. I'm going to call Cho and get him and Jane to see if they can talk to some of the women in the quilting group while they're in the neighbourhood. You and I are heading back to the office. I need to update Minnelli anyways."

"Whatever you say boss."

She frowned as she dialed; she hoped Jane and Cho weren't in the middle of something, like talking to the presumably distraught husband. Oh good lord, she'd just sent Jane, the master of the inappropriate comment who seemed to have no concept of personal boundaries, and Cho, who much as she loved him, sometimes seemed to have too many, _to talk to a grieving widower_. Maybe they'd meet somewhere in the middle and balance each other out. Or maybe she'd end up with an official complaint on her desk. If that happened Jane's month cut-off was going to get _considerably_ shorter.

"Cho? It's me. I'm not interrupting anything am I? Good. Listen, we were talking to responding officer and he mentioned that our victim was part of some sort of local knitting group. While you're down there do you think you guys could try and interview some of the members? Rigsby and I are heading back to the office, not much to report. The local officers don't seem to think the husband's to blame. Anything new on your end? Yeah. Okay. See you later. Both of you keep out of trouble."

"They know anything?" Rigsby asked when she hung up the phone.

"Cho doesn't think the husband had anything to do with it, too shocked. Jane's still talking to the family, but Cho didn't get the impression he was considering them as likely suspects."

"What do you think?"

"Honestly? I'd have to agree with you. This might just be a random. Maybe she walked into the middle of something she shouldn't have. We've got to figure out what happened. I know the grocery store didn't have security cameras out back, but what about anything else nearby?"

"Let's go find out. I can turn around here."

She stifled a smile at Rigsby's excitement at the prospect of being out in the field a bit longer before heading back to the office. The man sure wore his emotions on his face. She also hadn't missed how he'd puffed up with pride when she'd told him she suspected he'd been right when he guessed the attack was random. It was nice to know that whatever else was going on, her relationships with the rest of her team didn't seem to be suffering.

She closed her eyes briefly as she leaned back against the seat. God she was tired. Maybe Jane had a point. She could probably use a vacation when this case was done. For now though, she was fine. Everything was under control.

xxxxx

Jane was thinking. Cho had barely said three words to him that didn't pertain directly to the case. Even for the team's stoic second in command that was out of the ordinary. He knew he might have been a _bit_ out of line earlier, but he pulled crap like that all the time. Besides Lisbon hadn't seemed to care all that much, his comments had run off her like water off a duck's back. She'd barely even reacted.

But why had he said it all? What had he been hoping to achieve? Come to think of it, the fact that he didn't know was worrisome. Was he concerned about she'd react? Maybe. He admitted sometimes he worried about her, she always seemed so self-contained, but he somehow doubted his motives were quite so entirely altruistic. If that was the case why _hadn't _he gotten her alone as she'd suggested?

Had he merely wanted her to recognize that he wasn't the only one who got personally involved in a case sometimes? Although she almost never let how shaken up she might be show, and it didn't ever affect her judgement, while he… he…

"_You think you're playing him while he thinks he's playing you. One of you's wrong."_

Okay, so even he had to admit it wasn't a fair comparison. I mean, apart from some momentary distraction, and an attempt to help the victim's family Lisbon hadn't really reacted all that differently the last time a case had hit close to home. So maybe they had a point when they treated him differently whenever Red John was involved. He would admit that he might get a little crazy sometimes. But Lisbon knew that! And that was why… _that was why she usually tried to help him_.

In fact, she always tried to help him. Her methods were just a bit different, a bit more legal, a bit less dangerous.

"_I don't think you mean what you say. I think you choose life."  
"Well you think wrong."  
"No. No you think wrong."_

She was always trying to protect him, to save him. And even though most of the time he thought it was impossible, sometimes he had to admit that she almost convinced him. Was he mad at her for it? How could he be mad at her for that? For trying to make his life better, even if she didn't fully understand what he was going through? It was in her nature, she couldn't change who she was. He supposed he should have known that she wouldn't let him go on a suicide mission. If he'd been thinking clearly he would have realized it. Unfortunately that was _yet another _argument in favour of his own mental distraction whenever Red John was involved.

So then why was he reacting to her the way he was? Maybe he was mad about how she'd changed his plans. But he'd understood. She was Lisbon. She had to think about the common good, and not just what he wanted.

"_And we saved a life."  
"Yes. Yes we did. Hooray for us."_

She'd thought about the common good and he'd shoved it back in her face.

And he'd seen the expression on Maya's face when Lisbon had found her. The original disbelief that she was had been freed from a madman. Had seen in the way that she'd clung to Lisbon how destroyed the girl had been. With his own fixation on Red John he'd almost forgotten about the other victim, had counted on Lisbon to keep track of the bigger picture, even if he hadn't known he was doing it. And then he'd punished her for doing what deep down he'd known she'd do.

He'd sulked, and he'd been sarcastic, and instead of getting mad she'd shut him out. Had he wanted her to get mad? Would screaming at her make him feel better? What about pushing her to her limits just once after that horrible night? Is that what he wanted? Is that why he'd pushed? Maybe that was part of it, and maybe he was a bit mad at her. Mad that she never seemed to trust him, mad a how things had turned out, mad that he'd had to shoot their only link to Red John? She couldn't have thought that would make him happy.

Is that why she'd shut down? Was she finally tired of his nonsense? Of his drama? He wasn't an idiot, knew he needed her on his side. And even if he didn't think he could ever be fixed, that his life could ever really be saved, he didn't want to lose the one person who kept trying.

But if they kept up this way he was going to. And he was also going to lose the support of her team. Although they hadn't been _openly_ hostile he could tell they were unimpressed. Well, he guessed he could start mending some of his fences, or at least see if they were damaged. He grinned when he noticed Van Pelt walk into the room with a couple of boxes of files.

"Here let me help you with those," he offered, quite gallantly in his opinion.

"No thanks. I've got it." Huh. Clearly she didn't agree.

"You sure? If you need a hand, let me know. I'm always available to help."

She humphed derisively, turned to say something to him, appeared to think the better of it, before changing her mind yet again. When she turned back her eyes were cold, "I think that you've _helped_ enough for one day thanks."

What? "What?"

"Oh come on Jane. I get that you like rocking the boat. I get that you're pissed at Lisbon. But god, cut her a bit of slack would you? What did you expect her to do? Let you kill Red John in cold blood? Let an innocent girl's life be destroyed? Get over yourself. Trust me she feels bad enough already."

"Has she…"

"She didn't have to."

She stormed back to the storage room before he could reply. He dropped weakly onto his couch. Did Lisbon think he was _mad_ at _her_? He wasn't… well, not really… Okay, maybe a little but not so much that… is that why she'd… I mean, she was a good boss, she was a _great _boss… most of the time… And she was helping him, not always as effectively as he would have liked but…

"_That's a good clue though right?"_

"_We'll get him next time."_

"_Jane, I know better than to try and stop you from doing what you think you have to do [...] Let's compromise, when you get into trouble call me first so I can try and minimize the damage."_

She was his comforter, and to an extent his confidante, at least she had been. Methods aside when all was said and done, Lisbon was almost always his staunchest ally. He didn't even want to think about the number of times she'd stood between him and death, or him and the department, or him and her boss.

"_Seriously? I've stuck my neck out for you a dozen times now. I think I deserve an explanation."_

"_I've had it with your egotistical crap. This isn't about justice or the law. This is about you and your wounded pride. I'm done with it"_

"_Can't you see there's people who care about you, who need you? You're being selfish and childish and I want you to stop it!"_

Damn it.

He went to knock on Lisbon's door, admitting that this could be one of the worst ideas he'd ever had, but she was usually pretty understanding, and she really hadn't_ seemed_ all that upset. Well, here goes nothing.

xxxxx

Lisbon collapsed at her desk. Her meeting with Minnelli had been more irritating than it needed to be in her opinion. Every so often she forgot how good a cop her boss really was. Over the years her mentor had become too damn good at reading her. Despite continuous and vehement denials that anything was wrong, or that Jane had done something particularly inappropriate her boss hadn't stopped looking concerned for the ten minutes she'd been in his office. And when she'd gotten up to leave he'd suggested she go grab some dinner. What cop had time to eat right or regularly? It was hardly high on the list of priorities, unless you were Rigsby that is.

What a day. Now she just needed ten minutes. Ten minutes to herself and she could get through it. Ten minutes to drop the mask before summoning the energy from somewhere to build a better one. Ten minutes to let herself feel out of control. Hell, ten minutes to let herself feel full stop. If she could just have that… Ten minutes in the privacy of her office. Because Theresa Lisbon did not fall apart in public, she refused to.

Why was someone knocking at her door? Resisting the urge to yell at them to _go away_ she quickly re-applied her mask of indifference before calling, "Come in!"

Ah, Jane. She should have known. Just what she needed right now.

"Hi Lisbon… I was just… I wanted to see how you were."

xxxxx

"Hi Lisbon… I was just… I wanted to see how you were." And to see how badly I screwed up.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Her voice was neutral, her face was neutral, she didn't look mad, she didn't look hurt, just a bit pale. Actually, a lot pale. And tired. And he couldn't read _anything_ on her face. Nothing. He knew people thought she was too reserved, but he had always at least been able to tell how she was feeling, if not what she was thinking. When had she closed herself off so completely? How had he not _noticed?_ And had she lost weight? Not that she'd had much to lose in the first place but… And how on earth was he supposed to answer her question. If she really wasn't upset about this morning he certainly didn't want to bring it up. "Well, I…about this morning…"

"Jane, I can assure you that whatever _you_ might think about my abilities I'm a professional. Everything's under control. Now if there's…"

"I'm not worried about the case Lisbon." Please believe me. "I just… Do you want something to eat? I think there might be pastries in the break room. I could get one for you if you like, or some coffee."

Now she was looking at him like he was crazy. Well he supposed that was better than no expression at all. "No thank-you Jane, I don't want a pastry."

"Are you sure? If you wanted something else I could…"

"No Jane. I'm fine. I'm not hungry. Actually there's something I need to do, so if you wouldn't mind."

"You're sure you don't need anything?"

"No. Please Jane…"

And then he saw it, the slightest of chinks in her armour. Actually, if he hadn't been looking for it specifically he probably would have missed it. And he knew instinctively that if she ever realized that he'd seen it, if he ever saw her break she'd never forgive herself, or him. "Right, sorry. I was just checking in. I can come back later. I'll go back to helping Rigsby go through security tapes."

"Alright." And she was in control again.

Jane did _not_ go back to watching security tapes. If Rigsby found anything interesting (the killer walking by carrying a body would be nice) he'd let him know, well, after he told Lisbon of course. Instead he spent the next ten minutes surreptitiously guarding his boss's door, making sure that she wasn't disturbed.

When he finally made his way back to the bullpen he overheard the others talking.

"Well, I think we have to say something!"

"Bad idea."

"Cho! Come on, we said it'd get better in time! It's been a month! How much time is it going to take?"

"Do you really want to get in the middle? It's Jane and the boss. I mean, if you want to talk to her about it be my guest but I like having all of my limbs firmly attached to my body."

"What about Jane?"

"You gotta admit Cho, he's definitely less threatening than Lisbon."

"Yeah, but who _knows_ what idiot thing he'd decide to do. Interfering might do more harm than good. Lately their relationship has been balancing on a point. They're like a newly sharpened pencil just managing to balance on its tip. Apply any outside force at all and it falls over."

"Nice metaphor."

"I thought it was very apt."

"You were one of those people who actually _liked_ high school physics weren't you?"

"What's wrong with that? Basic physics can be very useful."

"Guys! Can we get back to the problem here?"

"Sorry."

"I still say we do nothing…"

"Ummm… I kind of already said something. To Jane of course, not to the boss."

"How'd he take it?"

"He went to talk to Lisbon."

"Maybe he finally came to his senses."

"One would hope but…"

"Alright, well I don't know about you two but I'd rather not jump right into the lion's den. Van Pelt's given them a bit of a nudge, if things get worse, or nothing changes in a couple of weeks I guess we'll have to intervene, but I for one would rather stick my right arm in a blender. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Yeah okay. But you know, if we were less scared of Lisbon we'd have gone to Minnelli weeks ago."

"What's your point?"

"No point. Just an observation."

Standing outside the doorway Jane was still leaning against the wall. Just how bad had things gotten? What had happened? He knew she'd been distant, but that had started before he'd even left. Okay, so he probably hadn't helped, but that didn't mean it was necessarily all his fault.

After the case, when she didn't have an excuse to brush him off, he and Lisbon were going to talk.

xxxxx

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, here it is, the second last part (I think). This one's full of a lot more exposition then the last one. I realized that I needed to solve the case. Anyways, hope you like it. Again, thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Chapter 3

Theresa Lisbon showed up at the office bright and early the next morning, determined to get a handle on their latest case. It was frustrating how little they knew. Sure they were in the early stages still, but usually _something _had grabbed someone's attention before now. She sighed as she passed all of the dark rooms on the way to her office. When she got there she opened her door, turned on the light, and hung up her coat. Then she saw it.

Someone had put a muffin on her desk. A fresh cranberry-lemon muffin. Her favourite. She hadn't really eaten much that morning and now her stomach was growling. Breaking off a piece of the top confirmed her suspicions. The muffin had in fact been baked that morning. But she hadn't seen anyone in the office. And besides, who on earth would know what kind of muffins were her favourite?

Suddenly suspicious she wandered out into the bullpen, and there he was. Patrick Jane was lying on his couch eating a muffin identical to the one she currently held in her hand. She'd suspected, but she hadn't really expected… "Morning Jane," she ventured tentatively.

"Morning Lisbon."

She stepped farther into the room, "Thank you for the muffin."

"Sale at the bakery, buy one get one free." He turned to her and for the first time since the whole fiasco his grin made it to his eyes when he spoke to her, "But you're welcome. You can eat it you know. It's not poisoned or anything."

She scowled at him, but her heart wasn't in it. "Thanks Jane, but I'm not in the habit of eating random food that's left on my desk, at least not before confirming who left it there."

"That's very safety-conscious of you Lisbon. Anyways, I'm glad you're here. I want to talk to you."

She paused in between bites, suddenly wary, "About what?"

"The case." Her shoulders relaxed, she wasn't sure she was up to having it out with Jane this early in the morning. She turned to him expectant and he continued. "Something isn't right."

"Besides the dead woman?"

"No, I mean we're missing something."

"Like the killer's identity?"

"Well yes, that too, but that wasn't what I was referring to." Jane paused, but then continued, "We know the victim was found behind the grocery store, but how did she get there? And more importantly when did she get there? Rigsby didn't see anything suspicious on any of the surveillance tapes, but none of them show the exact place she was found, or completely cover both exits. All we know is that she told her husband said she was going out grocery shopping, and when she didn't come home after a few hours, he called the police."

"Well, we know from the security cameras in the store as well as from the electronic receipts exactly when our victim was in the store and what she bought. And we know her car was found a few blocks away late yesterday evening." Yes, that's it. Let's just go over the facts. Between the two of us something will jump out at us eventually. It has to.

"Yes, found empty with the groceries all still in it, and no signs of a struggle. No prints beside hers and her husband's on the steering wheel, so no one else drove the car, unless they wore gloves, but this doesn't feel that planned. And there's no trace of blood in her car. Of course that means she was killed somewhere else and then moved back to the store."

"So she was meeting someone, got out of the car, something happened and she ends up dead behind the grocery store," Lisbon summarized.

"It was supposed be a quick meeting." Jane told her.

"What makes you say that?" Lisbon asked curiously.

"She bought popsicles. You don't buy popsicles if you have a lengthy errand afterwards, they'll melt. Either her meeting was supposed to be quick, so she wasn't worried about them melting, or she was meeting someone she knew well enough that they'd let her keep food in their freezer temporarily."

"But since the popsicles were still in the car…" Lisbon replied, finally realizing where he was going with this. She didn't understand why didn't just explain all of his theories like that. When he did they often made sense.

"Exactly, it's more likely the meeting was supposed to be short."

"So who was she meeting in that part of town? It's mainly residential. There're a couple of stores at one end of the street and a park at the other but… Think she was having an affair?" She supposed it was possible, but it didn't feel like that kind of a case.

"Didn't get that vibe from the husband, so unless he really had no idea… I doubt it though, what do you think?"

"Nah, I didn't get that impression from talking to the sheriff either, although you never know."

He nodded, granting her the point. "We should go talk to her quilting group again. They're meeting this morning."

"And why should _we_ do that? Cho didn't seem to think any of them knew anything, and _you_ certainly didn't contradict him yesterday."

"Yes, but we interviewed them all _individually_. They might know something and not even realize it, because they all only know part of the story. Besides, now that her car's been found they might be able to tell us something more. And I think we should go because I think they'd see us less as outsiders if one of us was a woman, and I need someone with an authoritative enough tone. Van Pelt won't cut it. Come on Lisbon, come to the quilting bee with me!"

Oh so now he was desperate for her company was he? _He_ needed someone with an authoritative tone did he? And where did he get off handing out assignments? Well, she supposed he done it before, before, well before their falling out. Maybe she was being a little sensitive, maybe he was trying to reach out a bit here. But Jane's behaviour she had to admit was baffling her. For the better part of a month he ranged from cold to almost cruel, and all of a sudden he's bringing her muffins and trying to charm her into going with him to interview suspects, with no indication of what had prompted this sudden change. God the man should come with a manual! Did he think she wouldn't let him do it if she wasn't along to supervise him or something? But the idea wasn't even that crazy. She had been considering sending someone to talk to the victim's friends again anyways. "Alright, after the rest of the team gets in and I make sure they haven't found anything new we can go to this quilting bee. What time does it start anyways?"

"Oh not until 10, we've got loads of time for the team meeting. But nobody's found anything of use."

"Now how would you know that? Maybe Van Pelt found a connection and just didn't tell you!" Just because you're not aware of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You are not as infallible as you think you are Patrick Jane.

"Yes, but she would have told _you_. Immediately in fact. Same goes for Cho or Rigsby, so since you don't know of any leads in the case I think it's safe to assume we don't have any."

Well that sounded almost nice… first he brings her a muffin, then he insists she accompany him today after rejecting her company the day before… it was almost like Jane was trying to _apologize_… Exactly what he thought he needed to apologize for she wasn't sure, but their conversation had certainly been the most normal one they'd had in a while.

xxxxx

Well this was going well he thought. She was eating his muffin; she hadn't scorned it out of spite. _And_ she was talking to him. About the case of course, but still. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed this back and forth with Lisbon, how much explaining his theories to her helped him sort them out in his head sometimes. Talking to her when she refused to vary her facial expression in the slightest didn't count. But she was still wary of him, didn't seem to know what he was up to, especially after he suggested they both go quilting.

Something was still bothering her, and now that he had actually gotten her talking he could tell that it was something beyond what he'd done yesterday. He just had to make sure that he didn't piss her off enough during this case that they could have the conversation without her killing him.

It was about then that the rest of her team started to filter in. They all seemed vaguely shocked by the tête-à-tête they were interrupting, but none of them said anything. When they were all there Lisbon filled them in on the plan for the day, "So we know Mary Martin was killed sometime on Sunday, and that after leaving the grocery store she stopped on a side street before being killed, only to be moved back to the grocery store. I want you guys to figure out what happened on that street. See if you can find any witnesses, someone must have seen something. Oh, and see if there have been any crimes previously reported in the area. In the meantime Jane and I are going quilting."

The way their eyes all widened at the suggestion would have been comical under different circumstances. Yup, the situation was definitely way worse than he'd thought if her team was surprised by the idea of Lisbon willingly going somewhere with him alone. Well, there was no use worrying about that now. He pointedly ignored all the suspicious looks the team was shooting his way as they rose to do their boss's bidding. "Well, I guess we'd better get going if we're going to make it to Donna's house before 10. Ready to go have some fun with a needle Lisbon?"

He saw her mutter something under her breath, "I'm sorry I didn't catch that Agent Lisbon."

"Nothing Jane. Let's go."

He followed after her grinning. He could have sworn he'd heard her mutter, "Yeah, sewing your mouth shut." Of course you never can tell, his hearing might be failing.

Unfortunately after driving for about fifteen minutes they'd both run out of things to say on the ride over to the Donna Parson's house. Odd, he couldn't remember this happening before. Maybe past silences hadn't been uncomfortable because he hadn't been aware anything was wrong, or there'd always been a third party to act as a buffer between them. Jane couldn't remember the last time riding in a car with Lisbon had been this uncomfortable. And since when had their conversation been limited to the weather and other topics common when making small talk? If she pointed out another pretty aspect of someone's garden he would not be held responsible for his actions. Sure sometimes things were tense when they were in the car, but that was usually for reasons outside of their relationship, like when they were following up on a lead, or chasing a killer, but this _awkwardness_ was new and he didn't like it. He was just about to propose a game of eye-spy or license plate bingo when she broke the silence herself.

"So what's your plan here Jane? Because I'm going to go in there and tell them who I am, and what I'm doing there. If you're planning on something different it would be best if you told me now."

"No, no. My _plan_ as you call it consists of you and me going in there and asking those women if they can think of anything out of the ordinary about Mary recently, or if they can think of any reason why she would have pulled her car over where it was found. Then I thought we'd listen to them talk and bounce ideas off each other. You get them talking and see if they know something important without realizing it's important, and I can watch them to see if there's something they're not telling us. No crazy stuff I promise."

"Just thought I'd check."

No, he thought, we must keep up appearances of professionalism mustn't we? Then he shook his head, this resentment certainly wouldn't help fix whatever was wrong with them. _Of course_ she had to worry about appearances. It was part of her job, as leader of a unit whose whole purpose was about discretion. In fact she'd probably had that rammed down her throat about a million times whenever she got called to task for something he'd done. No wonder she was getting a bit sick of him and his antics.

"Here it is," he said breaking the silence again. "The blue one on the left."

She pulled over and they both got out of the car. Lisbon knocked on the door. When a woman opened she said, "Good-morning Mrs. Parsons?" When the woman nodded she continued, "I'm Agent Theresa Lisbon; I work with the CBI. I believe you've met my colleague Patrick Jane."

"Hi there Donna." He grinned at the woman, and she grinned tentatively back.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

"Agent Lisbon and I was wondering if you would mind if we sat in at your quilting bee. We thought if we talked to all of Mary's friends at once, one of you might remember something important that hadn't occurred to you before."

"Of course. Where are my manners, come in. We almost cancelled our meeting today, on account of Mary and all, but then… well…"

"She wouldn't have wanted you to stop on her account," Lisbon said softly.

"No. I don't believe she would have. Tea? It's Earl Grey."

"No thanks." Lisbon told her.

"I'd love a cup." Jane spoke suddenly, noticing that Lisbon had repressed a smile. She'd always been amused by his habit of accepting any food offered to him, even when she pretended otherwise.

"I'm just being polite," Jane whispered in her ear.

"Oh, like you'd ever turn down a cup of tea."

"On the contrary my dear Agent Lisbon, have you seen some of the sludge some people serve that passes for tea? Completely undrinkable. But I'm sure that Donna's more than able. One of her grandmothers, probably her maternal grandmother, was English you see. Probably taught her the correct way of brewing tea."

Lisbon just grinned, and shook her head. But her expression turned more professional when Mrs. Parsons returned. "We usually quilt in the back room. It has a better view, the garden instead of the road I mean. Follow me."

"Of course."

They walked into a room where four other women were already seated. He decided it would just be easier if he made the introductions himself. "Good morning Ladies. I spoke to several of you yesterday as I'm sure you'll remember. Jessica and Leslie I've already met, you must be Katrina Griffith and Tanya Miller. Patrick Jane. This is my colleague Agent Lisbon from the CBI."

"We're sorry to intrude, but we were wondering if you would mind answering a few questions about Mary Martin. We thought if we spoke to you together it might jog your memories, if that's alright of course." Lisbon cut in. All of the women nodded immediately, he noticed, clearly eager to help.

"Oh, of course."

"Anything to help."

"What would you like to know?"

"Well, to start had Mary been acting strangely for any reason? Was anything going on?"

Katrina Griffith was the first to reply, "Not that I could see. We worked together at one of the local day care centres. Of course we were worried when she didn't come into work that morning, and then when we got the news that she was missing, but… I saw her almost every day and nothing seemed to be bothering her. I mean she never said anything… She was such a good person. She really loved kids…"

When Katrina faltered, Jessica jumped in, "I didn't notice anything either. She was happy. Things were going well with Jack, the kids were healthy. She'd been having a bit of trouble with Suzie, her oldest, but it was all normal teenager stuff as far as I could tell, you know, curfews, getting her homework done, that sort of thing."

"What about outside of work? Did she mention any new friends or anything?" Jane asked, hoping something would jump out. A happy woman with no secrets, although certainly commendable in other circumstances, wasn't exactly what they were hoping for here.

"No. Nothing like that. She'd just started teaching Sunday school again, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in that. She'd been teaching it on and off for years, whenever the church needed an extra volunteer."

Lisbon jumped in again, "What about Mulberry Crescent? Does that name ring any bells? Can any of you think of any reason she might have been there? Any friends in the area? Anyone she might have been meeting there?"

"No, I don't think so…" said Tanya. "I mean, I live a few blocks away, but if she was visiting me I assume she would have parked closer to my house…"

"Wait," said Donna, "Isn't there a park on the end of that street?"

"Yes, there is," Lisbon replied. "Does that mean anything?"

"Well, I think that some of Mary's Sunday school students live in that area. And didn't she go to that park once with her day care class Trina?"

"Yes, but we've stopped doing that recently because of safety concerns."

The comment prompted an immediate response from one of the women in the room, but not from one of the ones Jane had been expecting. Lisbon's eyes widened and she stood up abruptly. "Thank you very much. You've all been very helpful. I think that's all we need for now. Thanks again for your time."

Jane got up to follow her as she abruptly left the room, pausing to reassure the remaining women, all of whom looked like they didn't know quite what to make of the situation. "Thank you all for your help. And thank you for the tea. We can show ourselves out." He told Mrs. Parsons who had moved to get up. Looking at the surprised expressions on the five faces around him he added, "No need to be alarmed ladies, I'm sure Agent Lisbon has just solved the case."

Now, he thought to himself, I've just got to go get her to tell me what she knows.

xxxxx

Lisbon couldn't believe it. It was so obvious! How had she not seen the connection before now? She grabbed her phone, "Cho? It's me. Did you guys do that search of any recent crimes in the area where the car was found?"

"Yeah, boss. Just finished all the usual databases. No hits, beyond a few petty drug busts and the odd case of vandalism, but nothing serious. Well, except for the hit we got a hit from missing persons."

"The child kidnapping case?" Please let me be right. If I am, well…

"Yeah, how'd you know? The park down the street's flagged as being a high risk area for the next abduction."

"Did anyone go over to the park to see if there were any witnesses?"

"Rigsby and Van Pelt just got back, but nobody saw anything." Yeah, but they probably didn't talk to the right people.

"Alright, you guys, go talk to missing persons, see if they have any suspects, and stand by until you hear from me. Jane and I are on our way to the park."

She hung up her phone to find Jane patiently waiting for her to finish. "Care to share with the class? You left kind of abruptly."

"Get in the car." For once he complied without question. When they were on their way she continued, "What have you heard about the latest child kidnapping case?"

"Just the basics, every couple of weeks a kid goes missing, always from a different part of the city, always with no witnesses. No ransom demand, no bodies found, no nothing. So far three kids are still missing that we know of." She noticed that Jane's hands tightened into fists at the thought of the three missing kids. She couldn't help the stab of sympathy in her gut, first Red John, then a month later parents losing children. She forced her attention back to her explanation; sympathy for Jane wouldn't help anyone right now

"Yeah, but the missing person's unit has managed to create a list of high-risk locations that the perp might target for his next kidnapping. They hadn't alerted the public, because, well, because there were just too many and they didn't want to cause widespread panic, but they have been trying to monitor the parks more closely during the times when fewer people are around. Most are parks or other quiet public areas in residential neighbourhoods. One of them is the park on Mulberry. "

"You think Donna Martin was driving by on the way home and interrupted a kidnapping?"

"Most likely an attempted kidnapping, no reports of a missing child in the area. We know some of her students live around there, she might have had to drop something off, or she might just have been checking up on some of them in the park or something, arrived just in time to see one of them being threatened and then stepped in."

"Kidnapper panics and kills her, and the kid gets away, explaining why there's no new missing child."

"It certainly fits with the kidnapper's timeline, and why no one we know can think of someone who would have wanted to kill _our_ victim."

"But I thought Rigsby and Van Pelt were going to see if there were any witnesses in the area around the park."

"Yeah, but I bet they only talked to the adults. Given the kidnappers M.O. it's most likely that the only witness is a very scared child somewhere. That's where we come in."

Jane finally seemed to understand where she was going with this, and what his role would be. "To the park it is."

When they arrived at the park Lisbon's phone rang, "Lisbon."

"Boss, it's Cho. I talked to missing persons, they have a suspect, but nothing concrete to tie him to any of the kidnappings. If you find a witness though, we have got a picture."

"Great, thanks Cho. I think I might just be able to get you one of those. Stay in touch."

"Sure thing boss."

She turned to Jane, "Good news, if we can find a witness, missing persons has a suspect."

"Great, but how do you propose we find the kid who was attacked?"

"That's where you come in. Whoever this kid is, I'm sure he's terrified, he was probably threatened by his would-be-abductor and that's why he hasn't told anyone. Look around, do any of these kids stand out to you?" Come on Jane, this is one time I desperately need your special skills.

"Not really… but give me a minute."

xxxxx

Jane wandered around the park, observing the kids as closely as he could without looking creepy. He hoped Lisbon was right. If they could solve both cases then it would be a good day, but he wasn't seeing anyone… Suddenly a little boy with brown hair playing on his own in the sand caught his eye. Every few seconds the boy would glance around him quickly, then at a woman who was almost definitely his mother, as if to make sure she was still nearby. He caught Lisbon's eye from across the park and she headed over. "Brown hair, and blue shirt in the sandbox at two o'clock," he muttered to her under his breath."

"Mother's the woman in the pink sweater set I'm guessing."

"Yup. What's your plan?" She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I was thinking go over and introduce myself, ask the mother if she saw anything and hope the kid comes over."

"Fine if you want to be all traditional about it."

"I do."

"Let's get this guy Lisbon." He kidnaps defenseless children. He deserves to be locked up for the rest of his pathetic little life. I want to get this guy.

She nodded in understanding, "I plan on it."

Lisbon walked over to the women on the bench. "Ma'am?"

"Can I help you?"

She flashed her badge, "I hope so. I'm Agent Theresa Lisbon with the California Bureau of Investigation. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course not what's this about?"

"One of our on-going investigations. Did you know Mary Martin?"

"Yes, she was Chester's Sunday School teacher. He's over there in the sandbox. I heard she was murdered, is that true?"

"That's what we're investigating ma'am. Her car was parked just down the road from here. Do you live in the area? Did you see anything at all out of the ordinary on Sunday afternoon?"

"No, I was inside all night. Chester went out though, just down the street to his friend's house. I usually let him walk by himself if it's not dark yet, since it's so close, gives him a sense of independence you know? You could ask him. Chester?"

Jane watched as the boy walked towards them, obviously a bit frightened. "Chester, these people are from the police. They're trying to find out what happened to Mrs. Martin. Did you see anything weird on Sunday when you went to James' house?"

When the boy didn't say anything, she frowned, "Sorry. He's been quiet for the past couple of days, since…oh god…" Jane watched helplessly as the hundreds of possibilities of what could have happened to her son raced through the poor woman's mind. He put a hand on arm to steady her.

Lisbon was more interested in the boy; she crouched down so they were at eye level, "Chester," she asked him softly, "did you see Mrs. Martin on Sunday?" When he glanced in fear at his mother, Jane knew they had the right kid. Lisbon knew it too, as she continued to talk to him in that soothing voice of hers. Her ability to switch between a tough no-nonsense cop, to this sympathetic woman who would patiently hear any victim's story had always fascinated him "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. You didn't do anything wrong. We just want to know what happened. It's alright. You're safe now."

The boy glanced once more between Lisbon and his mother before he started sobbing, "He took her. He was going to take me, but Mrs. Martin got out of her car and stopped him. She told me to run, and I did. Nobody else was there, but I saw him from the porch and he shoved her into his car and drove away. But he told me if I told anyone he'd come back. It's my fault."

"No, no Chester it's not your fault okay? It's his fault. Listen to me. You did not do anything wrong. There was nothing you could have done. He was a bad man okay?" Lisbon tried to console the child.

The boy nodded and threw himself into his mother's arms. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I had no idea, or I would have, I mean…"

"It's not your fault either. Chester, do you think if you and your mom came with us and we showed you a picture, do you think you could tell if it was the man who tried to grab you? It would help us find the man who hurt Mrs. Martin and a bunch of other kids."

The boy nodded into his mother's shoulder.

"Okay, then. If both of you could come with us."

Jane followed behind the other three; he had to admit, she certainly had a way about her.

xxxxx

Lisbon wandered over to the couch where Jane was. "Chester and his mother are still with missing persons. He ID'd the guy from the picture, and the make and model of the car are consistent with his description. When agents went to his house to him up, he tried to jump out the back window. They caught him when got stuck. Good news is they actually found all three kids locked up in the basement; they're alive. And there are blood stains in the backseat of the car. It looks like we've got him." Thank God. I don't know what I'd do if I had to tell you we found three dead children.

"That's good. That's good Lisbon. You told the family yet?"

"They're on their way over now. You okay?"

He smiled up at her, "I'm fine Lisbon. They really found all the kids alive?"

"Yeah, I know. It's a miracle right? Not sure why he took them, but they're all fine, at least physically."

"He wanted to be in control over someone. And he was a sicko Lisbon, hope you never understand why he took them."

She frowned, was Jane implying that he did understand? She didn't like where this conversation was going. They should probably have that talk sooner rather than later. "Jane…"

"I know Lisbon. I know. We'll talk later, but right now, you have to go talk to the victim's family, tell them we found their mother's killer, and she died a hero's death. Go. Don't worry about me. I'll be here when you're done."

She shot him one last concerned look, before she braced herself to talk to the grieving widower. She figured she'd need all of her concentration to get through this.

"Mr. Martin? I have some news for you. Step into my office."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Alright, here it is. The last chapter. I hope it wraps up the story to people's satisfaction, especially as my reviewers have (as usual) been so lovely. Personally I like it, but I _might_ be a bit biased.

Chapter 4

Jane watched as Mr. Martin left Lisbon's office. The man clearly needed time to grieve and to sort out his life. But even from across the room the consultant could tell that the sudden widower hadn't taken the news as badly as he could have. Jane supposed Jack. Martin would have some comfort knowing that his wife had died to protect one of the many children she cared about. Lisbon had done her work well. Lisbon… she probably needed a distraction; he was sorry that the one he intended to provide probably wasn't ideal. He'd considered waiting another day to have this conversation with her (he had to admit he had no idea what 'this conversation' would entail, but it was clear to him that they both needed to talk), considered waiting until things had died down, until they were less raw. Except at the CBI nothing ever really died down. And _not _talking was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place. He was afraid that if they let this opportunity go by one of them would find another excuse to delay and it'd be another month of awkwardness. That he absolutely would not stand for. He'd gotten a small reminder of what pre-Hardy Lisbon had been like the day before and he certainly wasn't going back to the robotic post-Hardy Lisbon if he could help it.

Still, it was with some trepidation that he walked up to Lisbon's office door and knocked, barely able to contain his grin. Well now she'd _know_ something as up since he'd taken the time to actually announce his presence instead of just walking right in. He poked his head into her office when he heard her call out.

"Come in."

Grinning at her he tried to gauge her mood. She looked a little tired, but she certainly didn't look like her emotions had been put through an industrial washing machine and then hung out to dry. Still, she'd gotten awfully good at hiding herself away from him of late so he couldn't be sure. "How'd it go?"

She sighed, "About as well as can be expected. He seemed to take some comfort from the fact that his wife had died to protect a child. Said now he can tell his kids their mother was a hero." Then she smiled softly, "Of course he couldn't stay long, needed to pick the younger two up from school, and then take Suzie to soccer practice. It seems he's drawn up a chart of exactly what needs to get done when."

"You think he's going to be okay." It wasn't really a question. She looked almost content.

"I think he's going to find a reason to live in his kids."

"That's good." He told her. Her face had fallen slightly after her last statement, and he felt the need to say something else before she got too caught up in her own head. "The conversation couldn't have been easy for either of you." Jane said softly. Conversations like that never were under normal circumstances. When you considered what she'd been through… Although he had to admit if someone had had to tell him what had happened to his wife, he'd have prefered it be someone like Lisbon. Someone who gave a damn.

But Lisbon had read something else into his comment, something else entirely, and her voice had gone hard. "I can handle it Jane. No need to worry about me."

He sighed, glancing at the floor before running a hand through his hair. He'd forgotten about that. He hadn't meant to make her defensive, to make her angry. Unfortunately, he figured he'd probably see her angry more than once before the afternoon was out. And not the fun version of angry-Lisbon, where she was mad at something he'd done, but it'd blow over in a few minutes, but the _real_ angry-Lisbon. The angry-Lisbon he was afraid of, because that woman's anger was often tinged with hurt; _she_ wouldn't forgive and forget so easily. So he tried to do what little damage control he could, "That wasn't what I meant Lisbon. I _know _you can handle it. You're one of the most competent people I've ever met. What I said earlier, well, that was just mean, and very unnecessary. And I'm sorry I said it. I don't really know why I did, well in a way I do, but I don't think it was for the reason you think." He glanced at her. She seemed surprised by the apology, not a good sign in his opinion. He opened his mouth to continue, but she beat him to it.

"Jane, we need to talk."

Well, at least he wasn't in this alone. "Yes, we do. But not here." She raised her eyebrows, leaving her question unspoken, so he continued. "Somehow I don't think we're going to want to have parts of this conversation in your office. It might become difficult to… control the volume, and we definitely don't need anyone listening in. Besides, neutral ground might be better."

She acknowledged his point with a shrug of her right shoulder. "I assume you have somewhere in mind."

He grinned, "I do. Follow me Agent Lisbon. I know just the place."

xxxxx

Lisbon wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she'd gotten into the passenger seat of Jane's crazy car. But she had to admit the city's botanical gardens weren't high on the list. "This is your idea of neutral ground?"

He shrugged. "It's the middle of the afternoon on a weekday so there aren't going to be that many visitors, meaning we're not likely to be disturbed. Also, there are lots of areas that are fairly sheltered thanks to all the trees and shrubs that are planted here so our conversation will be fairly private. It's pretty, which I thought would be a plus given the expected subject matter, but it's public enough that if you kill me you'll have a hard time disposing of the body without being discovered."

His reasons made sense she supposed, well except… "You forget Jane, I'm a highly successful CBI agent, trained in solving murders. Do you think that after all the time I've been doing this that I haven't figured out any number of ways to commit murder and get away with it?"

"I guess I was hoping none of them involved killing someone with your bare hands in a botanical garden."

She smiled, but then her face turned serious. "Alright, well, we'd better pick a spot and get this over with before this place gets busy. Any suggestions?"

"There's a place over here modeled after the gardens of a traditional English manor house. They're all surrounded by hedges so it's pretty enclosed."

"Alright, lead the way." Lisbon tried to control her rising anxiety. This conversation could go really, really badly, and what then? She couldn't imagine throwing Jane off her team, even if it was just to request that he be transferred to another, and not thrown out of the CBI entirely. What would he do? He'd probably go crazy if he wasn't somehow still after Red John. She gave herself a mental shake. Jane was willing to talk, and so was she. They both wanted to fix what was wrong. That had to be a good sign. She had to think positively.

They wandered into one of the hedged areas, and sure enough no one else was there. "So," she said. "Here we are."

"Here we are." Jane agreed. "I think we both agree that we have some issues to work out, correct?" When she nodded he continued, "These issues began roughly after the Prescott case." She nodded again, so far so good. "Well, do you want to start or shall I?"

She took a deep breath. "Why don't we continue where we left off in my office? Why did you say it? What possible reason could you have for questioning my competency in front of our colleagues? In front of the team that I supervise, who need to be sure I'm in control? In front of the local authorities, who've called me in because I'm supposed to be able to handle this sort of thing? I don't think I've given you any real reason to question my abilities. I've hauled you out of more dicey situations than I care to remember, so why?"

She saw her attack hit home, even though he had to have been expecting it. "Okay, well first of all I'd just like to point out that there's nothing I could ever _say_ that would cause your team to question your competency Lisbon. Those people would follow you to hell and back if you asked them, but right now that's really beside the point. Why did I do it? I've been wondering the same thing. I think part of me was a bit concerned," he held up a hand when she opened her mouth to say something, "not about your competency, but about _you._ No matter how competent you are those cases can't be easy for you, and I'd like to believe that a small part of me was actually concerned for your welfare. But you were right, if that was all it was, I should have gotten you alone. And I don't think that was all it was. I think part of me wanted to hurt you, plain and simple." Lisbon took a step back from him like she'd been slapped, placing both of the benches in the centre of the garden where they were standing between them as he continued. "You'd been ignoring me for weeks. Well, maybe not ignoring me, but shutting me out, not responding. You weren't treating me like a friend or a colleague, but like a tool you used to solve a case, so I think I wanted you to react, even if you screamed at me and threw me off the team. I wanted you to know what it was like to have someone question your judgment like everyone had been questioning mine since that fateful day. Because since then you'd barely said a word to me, barely raised a finger when I was sent on that stupid "vacation," as they called it., didn't call to see how I was doing, and as far as I could tell didn't do anything at all to stop what was happening."

The hurt she so clearly read on his face did nothing to soothe her guilty conscience. When he paused for breath and she jumped in almost screaming, "I know! Believe me, _I know_. I'm sorry I didn't do anything. I didn't know what to do! You were so angry with me afterwards, which I'm not blaming you for. I just… I thought some time apart might be good, might give us some perspective, might help you cool down, help you come to terms okay? Clearly it was a bad idea. I'm _sorry_ I didn't even try to fight for you. I'm _sorry_ the plan didn't work out. I'm _sorry_ I couldn't risk letting Red John kill you. I'm _sorry_ we didn't even get Hardy. And I'm _sorry_ that you had to choose between saving my life and killing your only lead to Red John, but you know what? I'm _not_ sorry I'm alive! And I'm _not_ sorry you're alive! And I'm _not_ sorry Maya Prescott is alive either!"

xxxxx

Jane watched her as she paused to catch her breath, her shoulders literally heaving with emotion, she refused to meet his eyes. "_What the hell are you talking about?_" he asked before he could stop himself. He'd had no _idea _this had… that she'd felt… He paused to collect himself, and took a step towards her. She still wasn't looking at him. He wanted to see her eyes, but knew that if he touched her she'd pull herself back even more. "Lisbon, listen to me, I'm not _mad _that you came early." When she glanced up in disbelief he continued, "Okay, so I admit I was for a little bit, but that's who you are. You told me that you wouldn't let me shoot Red John the last time he was in the picture. You gave me fair warning. If I'd been thinking logically at the time I would have realized it. _It's who you are Lisbon_. You're a very just person. I knew that, still do. Sure, I tried to outsmart you, but I knew that at the same time you'd be trying to outsmart me. Turns out this time you won." He paused and she turned towards him ever so slightly. In a gentler tone he continued, "Lisbon, what do you think went through my head before I shot Hardy?" She didn't give him an answer, but then he hadn't been expecting one. "There were literally seconds between when he shot his deputy and when he pointed the gun at you. You didn't even have time to grab your own gun. There was no time for 'Hmmm, Lisbon appears to have a gun pointed at her. Well that's regrettable. Normally I would save her life, but if I shoot Hardy I might never find Red John. On the other hand, I have known her for almost six years now, and she's become a friend so I'd really rather she not die. Besides, if I let her get shot then I'll have caused another innocent person's death thanks to Red John. So, even though Hardy might be able to give us valuable information about Red John, I guess I'd better save Lisbon.' You know what there _was_ time for? There was time for 'Crazy Man has GUN pointed at Lisbon! GUN pointed at Lisbon = _Really bad_. Must save Lisbon.' _Of course_ I shot the lunatic who had a gun pointed at you. At the time it didn't even _occur_ to me to do anything else! Besides, even if I had let him shoot you what then? I don't think Hardy would have come quietly!" He paused for breath, "Did you honestly think I would let you get shot if I could stop it?"

"No. Well, not really, I mean I don't think so, but Jane, when Red John's involved you go a little crazy sometimes, and I don't always know how sane you are. I'm sorry Jane; I'm sorry I doubted you, I'm sorry _you_ had to do it, it's not your job to…"

"Would you stop apologizing? None of this was your fault! Lisbon, have you felt _guilty_ all this time? Is that was this is about?"

"Well, if I'd…"

"What? Exactly what would you have done differently?"

"_I don't know!_ I wouldn't have waited longer, because then Hardy might have shot _you_ in that basement, and then we might never have found Red John _plus_ you'd be dead. But maybe if I'd thought to check whether Hardy still had his keys…."

"No one thought to do that; he was _knocked out_. People don't tend to worry about suspects who are unconscious escaping custody."

"I still should have checked."

"In which case he might have just found some other way to get a weapon, or he might have killed himself rather than talk. We'll never know. I told you Lisbon, you can't fix everything."

"Well I can try!" Ah, there she was, fiery Lisbon. He'd never been so relieved to see her in his life.

"And I hope you never stop."

That threw her off. "What?"

If she'd been any other woman he'd have reached out to hug her. As it was he moved between the two benches so only one was separating them. "I hope you never stop. You're probably the only reason I'm still alive, and you're right about one thing, if I'm dead I can't get Red John." And even if we have slightly different approaches, I know I need you to help me. I can't believe you didn't realize that. I thought it was obvious.

"You also can't get Red John if you play right into his hands all the time either."

"You have a better idea?"

"Yeah, we find out more about him and then _figure out a plan of our own_!"

"Oh, is that all?" Why hadn't he thought of that? Probably because they knew next to nothing _about_ Red John.

"I admit I haven't figured out exactly how to do it yet, but it's got to be better than what we're doing now, which is basically rush in and hope nobody gets killed!"

"I told you I don't care if I get killed!"

"And I told you I do!"

"Fine. I suppose I'll have to live with that. Literally. But only if you promise that you'll stop feeling guilty about what happened. None of it was your fault, and I don't like it when you shut me out. We're on the same side, we need to stick together."

"Fine. I'll try not to feel guilty, but as for us sticking together you what about you? It's not like you've been all nice and friendly the last little while! You've been needling at me since you got back, since before that actually. What you said this week was just the most obvious example. At best you've been snide with me, at worst malicious, veiling all your insults and little slights so they came out of nowhere. And you're surprised that I thought you were mad at me? What else was I supposed to think?"

"I'm sorry Lisbon. I'm sorry for that. I thought that I was fine with it, I thought I wasn't mad at you." She opened her mouth to say something, but he ignored her and continued, "And I wasn't, not for what you think at least. I was mad about what happened sure. I wasn't happy that Hardy was dead, but like I said, I know why you did it. Then I got sent away like a child who needed reprimanding, when all I'd done was shoot a kidnapper and a murderer who was about to kill again."

"There was nothing I could do about that Jane. It was above my head."

"I know."

"It was my boss's boss's boss. There was literally nothing I could do."

"I know that _now._ At the time I wasn't in the most logical frame of mind, which doubtless you'll remember. Besides, you didn't even _look_ angry about it. Didn't even try to fight for me." Oh that had hurt. He hadn't realized it at the time, but now, looking back, when the one person he could always count on had seemingly turned her back…

"I'm sorry."

"What did I say about that?"

"I honestly thought some time off might be good for you Jane. Thought maybe we could use some time apart. And I didn't know what to say. I felt like it was my fault. I thought you were mad at me. I thought you blamed me."

"I didn't."

"Yeah well, at the time… and whether you like it or not, I felt guilty, like I should have done something, stopped it."

"There was nothing you could have done."

She shrugged again, "Doesn't matter. I felt guilty."

"And that's why you shut down afterwards. Why you wouldn't talk to me."

"Yeah."

"I was only ever a little mad at you Lisbon, once I'd calmed down a bit. Mostly I was mad at life, and at Red John. And then you were being so distant. I thought you figured I was a liability and wanted to cut me out. I kept remembering your face when you told me that you were done with my crap, that you'd had enough. Even though I knew the fight was staged, still… I kept…" She'd sounded like she'd meant it, and that had frightened him.

xxxxx

He'd been worried that she'd thought he was a liability? After all the crap he'd pulled, all the times she'd stood between him and the department. All the times she'd had to rush in and save him, or send Rigsby, or Cho… Sure this was more serious, but it was also Red John, even the head of the CBI had been prepared to cut him a little slack. "No, NO Jane. I… I just…"

"Something finally happened that you couldn't fix."

"Yeah." And he hadn't been the only one who'd reacted badly to that.

"I wasn't mad at you either Jane. I was mad at myself, and mad at life. And I didn't think you were a liability. Okay, sometimes you are a liability, but I can deal with it." She grinned, "I think I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. I didn't want you off my team and I didn't mean to make you feel like that was what I wanted. I just felt like I needed to apologize, but I wasn't sure what for, or how to do it. I mean, you've been trying for years to get Red John, and then when you finally get a step closer… well, you know what happened. And even if I knew logically that it wasn't my fault… I guess I thought the time off would give me a chance to figure out how to fix it." She paused, before dryly adding, "Unfortunately I didn't come up with anything." Then stepping over the bench between them to look him in the eye, she added more seriously, "You're part of my team Jane. I protect my own. The _only_ thing that would make me cut you from the unit is if you ever intentionally threaten the life of one of your teammates. I just, I didn't know how to help you Jane."

She was relieved when he smiled. "Well at least my little enforced vacation gave me time to think about things a little more logically."

"So some good did come of it."

"Precious little. If I'd been at work we probably would have been forced to talk sooner."

"So despite the _delicate nature_ of the situation, management's solution wasn't quite as successful as they could have hoped."

"Is that what they were calling it?"

"Yup."

"Did you laugh?"

"Almost."

"Ah there's the smirk. I've missed that over the past few weeks."

"Shut up," she said good-naturedly.

"Hey Lisbon?"

"Yes Jane?"

"Can we go back to the way things were before? You know, I do something insane, you roll your eyes, or yell at me, or both, I wear you down until you give in, or I just do it anyways, then depending on what it is you either lecture me or try not to laugh. So far it's been a pretty good system. We _are_ solving a fair number of cases."

"Depends. Does your little scenario mean you won't abruptly stop talking or change the subject whenever I walk into a room?"

"God, Lisbon, I'm so sorry about that. Honestly I didn't realize. I was too wrapped up in my own little world. I thought that you were the one who'd changed, which obviously was not the case. I didn't know why you weren't talking to me, so I was trying to make you react, make you be you again. And then, the other day, I really think I just wanted to make you angry. You were scaring me. You were too calm all the time."

"Basically you were behaving like a three year old who'd lost a toy."

He grinned, "Basically."

She sat down on the bench behind her, and waited for him to do the same. When he was settled she spoke, "Can we at least agree that we both want to stop Red John, we just disagree on the eventual outcome?"

"Yes."

"And can we agree that it would be better if we're both _alive_ after he's been stopped?"

"I suppose."

"Then Jane, we've got to come up with a strategy of our own, one that doesn't involve suicide missions, or doing exactly what he wants us to do. We've got to change the game so that we're in control. That means not doing the first crazy thing that pops into your head because it might work. If we're going to catch Red John then we've got to do it on our terms."

"Fine. We'll bring him down." Holding out his hand to her, he waited for her to shake it. "On _our_ terms." She knew that she was smiling. She couldn't help it. Besides, he was too.

Then his smile faded, "I'm still going to try and kill him you know."

"And I'm still going to try and stop you."

"As long as we understand each other." Then he grinned, "You see Agent Lisbon, isn't everything better when we have these little talks of ours?"

She just laughed, right before she punched him in the arm. After the past month, the he deserved it.

xxxxx

Rigsby couldn't stop watching the clock. They'd been gone for almost two hours now. "What do you think they're doing?"

"Don't know," Cho told him for the third time.

"They're probably just talking." Van Pelt pointed out. "They've been getting along a bit better since yesterday. I'm sure they're just trying to work things out."

"Either that or Lisbon's taken him to a remote area to hide the body." Cho interjected.

"How do you think she'd do it? I'm guessing single gunshot wound to the head."

"Nah, too messy, too much evidence. Suffocation's easier. Then you dump the body somewhere it'll never be found, like a bog or something. It would actually work fairly well; it's not like anyone but us would ever notice that he was missing."

"True."

"Guys quit it. This conversation's morbid. I'm sure Lisbon and Jane are sitting at a coffee shop somewhere calmly and rationally…"

Whatever Van Pelt had been saying was abruptly cut off by a kerfuffle down the hall, "JANE!" they heard their boss yell.

"Yeah, real calm," was all Rigsby had time to mutter before Jane came running through the bullpen, waving to his colleagues and grinning before running out the other side.

He was soon followed by Lisbon herself, who was not running, but stalking down the hall after him. "Jane! I do not CARE if one of the magician's laws, or whatever the hell they are, states that I have to locate the missing item myself. If you don't tell me where you hid my car keys I will throttle you. And after that I will bring you back to life, and then throttle you again! Don't even bother trying to hide! I may not know where you put my keys, but I know each and every one of your hiding spots, even the one in the broom closet!"

The three other members of the Serious Crimes Unit glanced at each other and grinned. "You know, if she really wants to look like she's mad at him, she should try to keep the smile off her face," Van Pelt pointed out innocently.

Rigsby lay back in his chair, resting his head on his hands. "Thank god," he said with feeling.

Cho, on the other hand, didn't say anything, just calmly got up from his desk and headed for the door.

"Hey, where're you going?" Rigsby called after him.

"You really think I'm going to miss this?"

Rigsby and Van Pelt glanced at each other, before jumping from their chairs and running after him. This was going to be good.

xxxxx

Fin


End file.
